The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1887-06-29
GENESIS OF THE HORSE.
An English Scientists Comments on tn
Prehistoric Equine SpecIes.


Prehistoric Equine Species.
An English naturalist, writing upor
the horse of Great Britain, traces the
ancestry of the present species back
beyond the historic age, and as to spe.
cies now extinct, refers to species hav.
ing more than one hoof to each limb.
The same is true of America. Fossil
diminutive horses have been found
with four hoofs or toes, like those of
cattle. In relation to these prehistoric
horses in Great Britain, our authority
says:
Far back before the age of man
there lived upon the earth species of
the horse family, long ago extinct.
This horse was little larger than a
sheep, and some say not larger than a
terrier dog: These little horses as far
as we know from the fossil remains,
were the beginning of the horse tribe.
They had every outline of horses, and
the anatomy also, with the exception
that the feet were the most peculiar.
Instead of having one hcof on each
leg, as our modern horse, this dimin-
utive pony was the possessor of four,
making sixteen hoofs in all. As the
horse developed, these hoofs, or
speaking more correctly, these toes,
all disappeared, leaving our modern
horse to walk upon the end of one toe.
'In order to clearly understand the
manner OF the gradual disappearance
OF these toes little anatomy may be
tolerated. Starting with the hand of
man as standard, the thumb, which
is really finger, the index is called
the second, the next third. fourth and
fifth. 1t has been observed that when
this order in any way interfered with,
the first to disappear is the thumb or
the first finger. This is noticed in dogs.
The dew claw is the first finger or
thumb. So it was with the little
horses. No remains can be found pos
sessing the first finger. The earliest
had the second, third, fourth and
fifth toes present, all of which reached
the ground and were disable. These
toes all disappeared until none was
left except the third, on which the
horse of the present day walks. The
one just preceding our modern horse
had three toes. the second, third and
fourth, but the outside ones did not
reach the ground and accordingly were
not disable. They were up little
distance on the leg, like the hoofs of a
deer and only remain on our modern
horse in what is known as splint bones.
ut occasionally happens that horses,
as we'll as other animals. will breed
hack, and a monstrosity, as it appears
to us, will be the result In England, |
some time ago, a horse was born which |
had two hoofs on each foot, and was
carried about the country as curiosity. |
1t was reference, or index of what |
sort OF feet the species once had. just
why they were at first in possession of
such feet is a matter of conjecture. It
may have been because the ground was
soft and marshy, and the extra feet
gave more surface for resistance.
and as the earth grew frn,er
no necessity existed for so many toes,
10 that by disuse they began to dissap-
Dear With the notifications of the
he feet the horse increased in weight
ind strength, getting ready to help
nan bear his burdens and progress in
he line of civilization. As itincreas-
ID in size, through mans interference
md culture, it also increased in men,
al capacity, until one of the most in.
elligent, docile. useful creatures ever
.iven by the Supreme Being to man is
he animal almost human-the horse. ~
-Fa9N', Field and Stoekwaa